I have never bred a dog in my life. Been waiting for the perfect opportunity/time/finances, etc. These animals are not cheap and I didn't want to breed until I could afford the best dog/dogs I could find. Money shouldn't come into breeding decisions. Breeding should only be based on what is absolutely best for the dogs ultimately, not what is best based on what you can afford.

I have done some training, helped some people train, but never for money or in a "formal" sense. I have no accreditations and have never claimed to. It usually happended that someone was desperate and I stepped in for the dog's sake, (take Stark's situation) and had positive results. Mostly though, it comes from someone meeting my dogs and being impressed w/their temperament and behavior and one thing leads to another. I don't purport to have any status as a trainer...although I do have a teeny bit of notoriety, LOL, not necessarily related to training.;-)

Thanks for your good wishes.

Jenni, I could understand Steve's questions. I would probably also prefer and feel more comfortable buying from a person who has titled their dogs or has as much knowlege of the dog and it's pedigree.

That said, I do agree with you completely that actually seeing the dogs, when possible, is most important. I have seen and worked some awesome awesome dogs that didn't have any titles.

Wish you the best with Capri.

Edited by Alex Corral (12/15/2008 02:19 PM)
Edit reason: Spelling

 Quote: Alex

Jenni, I could understand Steve's questions. I would probably also prefer and feel more comfortable buying from a person who has titled their dogs or has as much knowlege of the dog and it's pedigree.

This is exactly why I asked a personal friend to find me the right female. I am not old enough to have enough knowledge of the dogs in this ped to make myself comfortable; I can only know what I hear and read, which is not good enough for me. Steve has competeted with or against many of these dogs in Europe over the past 40 years,and owned close relatives or progeny. I think personal knowledge of MOST of the dogs in the line is more important than being the one to physically title just one of them. A dog is only as good as what it produces, so I think focusing on only the dog in front of you is short-sighted and can be dangerous. For example, what if Capri were a great dog, but one of the only ones out of Snoopy? What if the rest were crap? That's in the genes, and could be passed on. Genes are funny things.

I think the big picture, temperament-wise, is key...and having personal, firsthand knowledge of so many of these dogs is the only way to be as sure as possible, and this is why I trusted Steve to help me. He was ecstatic when he saw her papers, and I've been getting emails from other old-time handlers who share his view. I am excited that it's different blood than the usual West stuff we see here-Troll, Fero, etc.

I'm really looking forward to my project, lol. Even if I decide to go completely underground and don't sell any puppies;-).

Steve sounds like someone I would like to get a dog from too. Sorry again if I side-tracked your intro.

Steve, don't apologize! No need! You're lucky I found Capri. If I wasn't so sidetracked, I'd be trying to come up w/ a heist plan for that cutie in your sig pic.

I got a happy phone call the other night; Capri got her Sch1! I was really surprised at how fast that happened. Turns out she was farther along than I had thought. I was patiently waiting for more pictures and to find out when approximately they were going to be able to get her to the field, and Steve called me and said they'd trialed her on Sunday, and she got it first try!

I am really happy about this b/c I was worried about trialing her, her heat cycle, and trying to have her bred over there. Timing can be a b!+ch when dealing w/females, no pun intended! I'm so glad to have this part out of the way!

Congrats Jenni!

I must of mis read your first post, I had thought she was titled and koer'd already!

Any idea when you will be getting your girl?

Thanks, Betty! No, she had a BH, and was well on her way, but hadn't been trialed yet. I re-read my post, and I should've been more clear in my wording when I said "She will be............." She will just be 2 on March 26, so I have to wait a little bit. When I get her depends on her heat since I really want her to be bred over there for her first litter. I have a few in mind over here that I'd like to use, but there's a dog over there that I'm told has produced excellent puppies and they would be willing to take her to him to be bred, although it is an overnight trip for them.

I wanted to do that with Raya and had some awesome males picked out. It didn't work out though, her heat cycle is funky and they missed it.

She's all done about the time tradition says to start with the first tie.......

It's exciting isn't it?

It is exciting...but boy will it be disappointing if after all this, she can't be bred or won't be able to be bred in Germany. Not to mention a lot of money down the tubes, LOL! I offered to pay extra to house her until they can have her bred. Right now I can hardly wait for updated pictures of her!

What males were you looking at?